The present invention relates to networked devices in general and in particular to the displays associated with networked devices.
With the increasing mobility of today""s society, the demand for mobile computing capabilities has also increased. Many workers and professionals are downsizing their laptop computers to smaller palm-top or hand-held devices, such as personal digital assistants (PDAs). In addition, many people now utilize cellular telephones to access the Internet and to perform various other computing functions. Computing devices including, but not limited to, PDAs, cellular telephones, and computing devices utilized within appliances and automobiles are often collectively referred to as xe2x80x9cpervasivexe2x80x9d computing devices. Many hand-held computing devices utilize the Microsoft(copyright) Windows CE, 3Com Palm Computing(copyright), and Symbion Epoc platforms as well as web browsers such as HandWeb from SmartCode, Inc. and the Pocket Internet Explorer from Microsoft, Inc. As used herein, the term xe2x80x9cpervasive computing devicexe2x80x9d refers to a data processing system which may connect to different networks and is intended to include PDAs, laptop and portable computers, pen-based portable computers, wireless telephones, smart phones, screenphones, copiers and other office equipment, appliances, factory controllers, etc.
Unfortunately, as the size of pervasive computing devices has decreased, typically, the size of the display of the device has also decreased. Such a decrease in size may limit usability in certain situations and may even be dangerous. For example, in utilizing a smartphone in a vehicle such as an automobile, the display provided by the smartphone may be difficult to read or utilize effectively while operating the vehicle. Programmed function keys, pager contents or even web page contents which may be suitably displayed when the smartphone is handheld may be too small to see at a distance or too difficult to read without distraction from a vehicle operator""s main task, operating the vehicle.
Attempts at providing alternative displays which are more easily read by, for example, the operator of a vehicle, may be seen, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,818,048, 5,509,048 and 5,566,224. However, each of these displays utilized dedicated hardware which was tailored to the specific device being displayed. Any device utilizing these displays would typically need to be specifically interfaced to the display. Thus, these displays may be of limited use if an ability to provide alternative displays for different types of devices is desired. For example, it may be desirable to provide a generic ability to provide an alternative display which may be utilized with different devices such as a smartphone or a PDA. The above described systems are each dedicated systems for a particular device and, thus, may not provide the ability to utilize the alternative display with different devices.
In light of the above discussion, a need exists for a mechanism to provide alternative displays for pervasive computing devices.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide methods, systems and computer program products which can provide an alternative display for pervasive computing devices.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an alternative display which may be automatically detected and utilized by a pervasive computing device.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such methods, systems and computer program products which can automatically accommodate various types of hardware operating under different operating systems.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide methods, systems and computer program products which enhance the usability of pervasive computing devices.
These and other objects may be provided, according to the present invention, by methods, systems and computer program products for accessing an alternative display from a data processing system by automatically discovering the accessibility of a display server operably associated with a network upon connection of the data processing system with the network. Display information corresponding to display content to be rendered by a display of the data processing system is generated and provided to the display server over the network so as to allow the corresponding display content to be rendered by the display server on a display associated with the display server.
By automatically discovering a display server and then providing the display content to the display server, the present invention may provide an alternative display for pervasive computing devices. Furthermore, by utilizing a display server capable of being discovered by a networked device, an alternative display may be automatically detected and utilized. Also, because a display server renders the display content for the data processing system, various types of hardware operating under different operating systems may be readily accommodated. Through the automatic discovery and utilization of an alternative display, a more user friendly display may be provided without requiring extensive user setup or knowledge of the network environment.
In a particular embodiment of the present invention, the accessibility of a display server may be automatically discovered by detecting connection of the data processing system with the network and then transmitting a service discovery request. A response to the service discovery request is received and the received response evaluated to discover the accessibility of the display server.
The generated information to be rendered by the display server may be information received by the data processing system, information created by the data processing system or a combination of information received and information created by the data processing system. In the case where the information is received by the data processing system, the display content may be provided to the display server by forwarding the received information to the display server. In any case, display content may be provided to the display server by posting the generated display information to the display server so as to render the data processing system display content on a display associated with the display server. Such a posting of display content may be accomplished by transmitting a Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP) POST message or a Wireless Session Protocol (WSP) POST message to the display server.
Preferably, the generated display information is provided as a markup language page. In particular, Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), Wireless Markup Language (WML), Voice Extensible Markup Language (VoiceXML) or Extensible Markup Language (XML) may be suitable however, any language for logically representing the display contents may be suitable.
In particular embodiments of the present invention the data processing system may be a pervasive computing device. Also, the network may be a network incorporated into vehicle a vehicle such as an automobile.
While the invention has been described above primarily with respect to the method aspects of the invention, both systems and/or computer program products are also provided.